How much did you spend on toilet roll in between 2014-2019 broken down by year?

The request was successful.

Dear City of London Corporation,

How much did you spend on toilet roll in between 2014-2019 broken down by year?

How much did you spend on pens in between 2014-2019 broken down by year?

Yours faithfully,

Susan Gordon

COL-EB-InformationOfficer, City of London Corporation

Dear Susan Gordon,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for information of 12 September 2020.

Public authorities are required to respond to requests within the statutory timescale of 20 working days beginning from the first working day after they receive a request. The Act does not always require public authorities to disclose the information which they hold.

The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and port health authority. The CoL is the local and police authority for the “Square Mile”, ie the historic City of London, and not for London as a whole. Please see the following page containing a link to a map (City of London - Interactive Mapping), which shows the local authority area covered by the CoL:
https://www.mapping.cityoflondon.gov.uk/...

The CoL does have some functions, including Port Health Authority functions, which extend beyond the City boundary. For further information please see: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1243
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

CHB - FOI, City of London Corporation

Dear Susan Gordon,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

 

Following your request for information of 12 September  2020 and our
acknowledgment of 14 September  2020 the City of London (CoL) responds as
follows.

 

We have interpreted the time period of your request to be 1 April 2014 –
31 March 2020.

 

“How much did you spend on pens in between 2014-2019 broken down by year?”

 

In accordance with section 17 of the FOIA, this response acts as a refusal
notice.

 

In accordance with section 1(1)(a) of the FOIA the CoL confirms that it
would hold information relevant to the request. However, it estimates that
to comply with the request would exceed the cost/time allowed for in the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004 (made under section 12 of the FOIA), called (as you may
know) the 'appropriate limit' of £450, representing 18 hours work by one
person equivalent.

 

Public authorities are not required to comply with a request free of
charge, which it is estimated may exceed the appropriate limit. Where they
do comply, they are allowed to charge the full permitted cost, at the
statutory chargeable rate of £25 an hour. For resource reasons, it is the
practice of the CoL not to comply with requests which exceed the
appropriate limit.

 

In accordance with the FOI Fees Regulations, an authority is allowed to
take into account, in calculating the estimate, the time taken in -

 

“(a) determining whether it holds the information,

  (b) locating the information,

  (c) retrieving the information, and

  (d) extracting the information from a document containing it."

 

The CoL does not centrally record stationery items by type i.e. we are not
able to specify “pens” or “pencils” .This information may be held in the
separate departments of the CoL and/or by any third party suppliers but it
is not known to what degree.

 

There are in excess of 40,035 transactions recorded as ‘stationery costs’
for the time period 1 April 2014 – 31 March 2020. Searching for the term
“pens” is possible but this will not necessarily identify all of the
specific items in question. A total of 1,416 transactions includes the
combination of the letters “pens” in the description, either as a discrete
word or as an element of a larger word.. 

 

The CoL estimates the time it would take to comply with the request would
be at least 47 hours by one person equivalent which, in accordance with
the rate allowed to be charged, would be equivalent to a cost of £1,175.
 This conservative estimate is made allowing only two minutes for each of
the 1,416  transactions, doubtless the time involved would be far greater.

 

Public authorities are not required to comply with requests which it is
estimated may exceed the appropriate limit.  Where they do comply, they
are allowed to charge the full permitted cost. For resource reasons, it is
the practice of the CoL not to comply with requests which exceed the
appropriate limit.

 

In accordance with the Information Tribunal’s Decision Notice ref:
EA/2006/0085, which makes reference to calculation of estimates and
compiling the information, the CoL also considers the description covers
compiling the information, in so far as it can be said that the
information does not technically exist until it is compiled.

 

Please note that the Information Commissioner has stated (FS 50227557)
with regard to FOIA section 12, that the purpose of the section "is to
prevent the possibility of a disproportionate level of search and that it
is reasonable in these circumstances to adjudicate on the basis of a
reasonable estimate of the worst case scenario". Nevertheless, we consider
that our estimate is not a worst-case estimate but a very conservative
one.

 

Finally, please note that the Commissioner has stated (FS 50353495) that
“Section 12 of the Act provides an exclusion from complying with a
request. It is not subject to a public interest test”. We note too that
the Commissioner has stated (FS 50279125) that it serves merely as the
costs threshold and does not provide any statement about the value of any
request for information.

 

In addition, the ICO’s guidance states that, as a matter of good practice,
public authorities should avoid providing some information while applying
section 12 to the remainder. The guidance states that it “is accepted that
this is often done with the intention of being helpful but it ultimately
denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which part or
parts of the request they may wish to receive which can be provided under
the appropriate limit” (‘Requests where the cost of compliance with a
request exceeds the appropriate limit’, 9 Sept 2015). The Information
Tribunal has stated (EA/2006/0085) that: “We ... accept that the cost
limits do not mean that the request must be complied with up to the point
at which the limit has been reached”. This position was endorsed by the
Tribunal in its decision EA/2010/0113.

 

In accordance with best practice guidance as described in the Information
Commissioner's decision notice ref FS50203140, after applying the
appropriate limit a public authority is required to provide advice and
assistance, in so far as is possible, as to ways in which an applicant
could reduce his/her request so that it may fall within the appropriate
limit. The Commissioner has, though, also upheld the view (FS 50353385; FS
50353499) that it can be impossible to offer any advice and assistance to
enable the applicant to narrow a request.

 

It is possible that separate requests for the same information by
individual financial years may be feasible within the limits allowed for
by the legislation. 

 

Please note that, should you revise your request in line with our guidance
it would constitute a new FOIA request, and would be subject to the
consideration of the FOIA exemptions, as appropriate.

 

“How much did you spend on toilet roll in between 2014-2019 broken down by
year?”

 

In accordance with the FOIA, section 1(1)(a), the CoL confirms that it
does not hold the information requested.

 

CoL toilet facilities and the associated consumable products are managed
by a third-party contractor. The costs of such items are included in the
contract price and are not identified separately.

 

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me.

 

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has managed your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[1][email address]. For a link to the CoL’s FOI complaints
procedure, please visit the following page:
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL’s FOI Complaints
Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the Information
Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone:
(01625) 545700.  Website: [3]http://www.ico.org.uk/.

 

The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and
port health authority.

 

The CoL holds the copyright in this communication. Its supply does not
give a right to re-use in a way that would infringe that copyright, for
example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public or
to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material may be
reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for
non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news
reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Access to Information Network Representative

Chamberlain's Department

City of London

Tel: 020 7332 1384

Website: [4]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

 

 

THIS E-MAIL AND ANY ATTACHED FILES ARE CONFIDENTIAL AND MAY BE LEGALLY
PRIVILEGED. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction,
copying, distribution or other dissemination or use of this communication
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error
please notify the sender immediately and then delete this e-mail.
Opinions, advice or facts included in this message are given without any
warranties or intention to enter into a contractual relationship with the
City of London unless specifically indicated otherwise by agreement,
letter or facsimile signed by a City of London authorised signatory. Any
part of this e-mail which is purely personal in nature is not authorised
by the City of London. All e-mail through the City of London's gateway is
potentially the subject of monitoring. All liability for errors and
viruses is excluded. Please note that in so far as the City of London
falls within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004, it may need to disclose this
e-mail. Website: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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CHB - FOI, City of London Corporation

Dear Susan Gordon,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

 

Further to your multiple requests of 22 September 2020 and our
acknowledgements of the same also of 22 September 2020, the City of London
(CoL) responds as follows.

 

A search of the CoL’s financial information system under the category
“stationery/paper” for each year requested has indicated the following
results:

 

1.            How much did you spend on pens in between 1 April 2014 – 31
March 2015? £749.26

 

2.            How much did you spend on pens in between 1 April 2015 – 31
March 2016? £571.65

 

3.            How much did you spend on pens in between 1 April 2016 – 31
March 2017? £1,906.77

 

4.            How much did you spend on pens in between 1 April 2017 – 31
March 2018? £734.97

 

5.            How much did you spend on pens in between 1 April 2018 – 31
March 2019? £985.04

 

6.            How much did you spend on pens in between 1 April 2019 – 31
March 2020? £734.39

 

Please note the following qualifications to the totals presented:

 

1.            The term “pens” has been used as the search parameter. 
Words such as pencil, crayon, marker or stylus would not be included in
the results. Similarly, transactions narrated as “12 biros”, “24 felt
tips”, “6 markers”  would not be included.

 

2.            It is possible that bulk order type transactions classified
under “stationery/paper”  include pens but these would not be identified
if the narration did not include the term “pens”.

 

3.            It is possible that expenditure on pens has been recorded
under other headings than  “paper/stationery”

 

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me.

 

 

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has managed your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[email address].  For a link to the CoL’s FOI complaints
procedure, please visit the following page:
[1]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
 ,  at the end of which is located the FOI complaints procedure.

 

If, having used the CoL’s FOI Complaints Procedure, you are still
dissatisfied, you may request the Information Commissioner to investigate.
Please contact: Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: (01625) 545700.  Website:
[2]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
 . 

 

The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and
port health authority.

 

The CoL holds the copyright in this communication and attachment. Its
supply does not give a right to re-use in a way that would infringe that
copyright, for example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to
the public or to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material
may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.

 

Yours sincerely

Access to Information Network Representative Chamberlain's Department City
of London

Tel: 020 7332 1384

Website:
[3]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
  

 

THIS E-MAIL AND ANY ATTACHED FILES ARE CONFIDENTIAL AND MAY BE LEGALLY
PRIVILEGED. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction,
copying, distribution or other dissemination or use of this communication
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error
please notify the sender immediately and then delete this e-mail.
Opinions, advice or facts included in this message are given without any
warranties or intention to enter into a contractual relationship with the
City of London unless specifically indicated otherwise by agreement,
letter or facsimile signed by a City of London authorised signatory. Any
part of this e-mail which is purely personal in nature is not authorised
by the City of London. All e-mail through the City of London's gateway is
potentially the subject of monitoring. All liability for errors and
viruses is excluded. Please note that in so far as the City of London
falls within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004, it may need to disclose this
e-mail. Website: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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